Implications
by KnightRogue
Summary: Terry wonders why Max is keeping such a close eye on him.


Implications   
  
By KnightRogue   
  
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction. Batman, Batman Beyond and all related characters and concepts are owned by Warner Brother and DC Comics. No profit is being made from this work and no infringement is in anyway intended.   
  
It was the first week back from his unscheduled 'vacation' and despite all the curious stares and whispered conversations as he went by, Terry McGinnis was feeling pretty good. A few people had tried to sidle up, eager to get the inside 'scoop', but he had blown them off and his reputation as a 'bad boy' kept others at bay. He was well aware that most people thought he'd been busted by Juvie again. For what, was the conversation du jour. Everybody had an opinion, 'and nobody was even close,' he thought somewhat relieved. The only other person who knew his secrets, all of them, wasn't talking either. The fact that Max was 'in the loop' had the Alpha crowd in an uproar. They hated, absolutely detested being left out of any current gossip. Max and Terry's attitudes had them in a panic for any news. Parents, older siblings, friends, anyone who might have an inside connection at the Police or Juvenile to what really had happened that day he'd run off had been consulted and the results turned up a blank. Whatever it was, they speculated, old man Wayne, Terry's boss, had spent some money to cover it up. The only fact the school could confirm was that Terry was now living with the old man in the Wayne Manor. By now, for anyone else, the in crowd would have cut them dead socially, but the prospects of a mystery and money prevented anyone from taking that drastic action. After all, for the Alphas, it was who you knew that got you ahead in the world.   
  
Funnily enough, this mystery was considered bigger than the previous event. The gossip about Terry and Dana's breakup had all been but buried under the gossip now going around. Even Blade and Chelsea, Dana's two best friends, had been civil, if not friendly, to him. Best friend loyalty was clashing hard with the need to know. After all, they'd already heard Dana's side of things. That was old news by now. What they were after was anything new, anything they could run back to Dana with and commiserate over. Girl talk with Max wasn't any help. Whatever she knew, she avoided even hinting about. They couldn't even dig up a new girlfriend Terry might have been seeing behind Dana's back. Max, after all, didn't count. Everyone knew they had been best friends for a long time. If there was something there, surely they would have noticed it by now.   
  
Plodding from class to class was definitely easier. They fact that he'd remained awake had shocked more than one teacher and surprised even himself during a droning lecture on the importance of late 20th century politics.His computer link had been inundated with requests to meet somewhere and hang after school. Without giving anything away, he had implied that his job needed him back at Wayne's after school and he 'just didn't want to talk about it.'   
  
On that note, Terry mused that being Batman didn't make your life any easier. Personal experience had taught him that it bought more complications than it ever solved. It was over two years after he had crept down that darkened stairwell and 'borrowed' the means to achieve his father's revenge. Vengeance had been served and Powers was no more. Terry supposed that the decision in retrospect had been worth it, for that reason if no other. He had never been the type to stand around, waiting for someone or something else if an opportunity to right a wrong presented itself. In that light, wearing the cowl was inevitable, fate.   
  
The problem was, Terry hated fate. It smacked too much of predestiny; a lack of free will. He hated being herded into unavoidable situations. On the other hand, if it was his free will that was behind the recent upheavals in his life, then Terry was forced to admit he wasn't doing too well on his own. Granted, being sick on top of a serious lack of sleep had made him a touch grumpy. Okay, his temper had managed to alienate him from his girlfriend, his mother, and even Bruce. If he really thought about it, only Max had stuck by him unwaveringly and he wasn't really sure why. It was Max who had alerted Bruce when she knew something was wrong. It was Max who had found him after he had run off. And in the end, it was Max who convinced him to come back.   
  
  
Shying away from that thought for a moment, Terry sighed. After school and a brief training session, he had a dinner planned with his mom and Matt. Bruce had insisted upon it. Anytime Mary McGinnis was home making dinner, Terry would go. And of course Bruce had reassured Mrs. McGinnis that Terry would be more than happy to continue to babysit Matt. Bruce had stressed to Terry the importance of maintaining family ties, even if he wasn't living at home anymore. The first couple of times had been awkward. It was only Matt's interventions for attention during those times that had avoided any major arguments. Terry was beginning to think that the timing of those bratty episodes was carefully staged as an emotional barometer when the atmosphere was getting too tense. While he appreciated the planned diversions, it made him more than a little uneasy to think that Matt was being forced into the peacemaker role. Mary had also begun to take note, and by a mutual unspoken consent, peace was made in the McGinnis household.   
  
Bruce was also monitoring his grades to a fare-thee-well. Terry suspected that Bruce was having his teachers e-mail progress reports almost daily. Max, too, had been keeping an eagle eye on him with almost a proprietary air. Anytime he had look stressed or tired, she had intervened at school and done it with such subtly as not to add fuel to the gossips lurking around every corner. He hated to admit it, but without Max there, there was a strong chance he wouldn't be here. She was a solid, steady presence that he gratefully leaned against to weather out the recent storm.   
  
Terry had wanted to come back; he had needed to come back. In a weird sort of way, Hamilton High, with its teeming teens engrossed in their various soap opera dramas provided a kind of grounding for him. After going out night after night, operating in his role as Batman, high school was a base of reality for him. It was a sanctuary of relative peace, or at least a haven where his perceptions were not clouded with the grimmer view of humanity's darker side. Terry suspected that it was his previous avoidance in classes, intended or not by sleeping through, which had led to his recent turmoil. He also knew that it was Max who night after night had fed him the latest school gossip through his cowl link while coaching him in the same way through enumerable quizzes and homework assignments that had kept him from going completely over the edge. Bruce may have taught him how to be Batman, but it was Max who had made him remember the teen he was supposed to be. It was a balancing act that he hoped in time would become easier.   
  
For now, he waited. From the hallway just ahead, Terry caught a glimpse of bright pink hair as Max drew nearer. She was managing to inject a word or two to the chattering crowd of people surrounding her. Finally noticing him standing off to one side by himself, she steered the group of teens in his direction. With a quick grin in his direction, she artfully included him within the circle of friends.   
  
Like a sudden burst of light, Terry suddenly knew what Max was doing. What she had always done. Max knew what he needed even more than himself. Unknowingly, he had always unconsciously rejected Dana's attempts to corner him off to herself. Now he realized what Max's relationship meant to him, and he smiled. Joining the crowd, he made his way down the hall to his next class. With Max, he wouldn't be alone. Ever. And the implications of that made him smile.   
  
  
Author's note: To everyone who wrote such wonderful words of praise for my last story, "Explanations", all I can say is thank you very much. I know I promised another story was coming soon, but I had something horrible happen to me. My faithful and best friend, my Golden Retriever, my companion and so much more of 13 years suddenly took ill, and I had to make one of the most horrible decisions in my life. I chose to put her to sleep, rather than suffer if I selfishly chose not to let her go. It was sudden, and she was brave. If I had said otherwise, she would not have complained, but would have stayed at the vet waiting for those brief moments when I appeared to wag her tail and lick away my tears. I loved her, and love her still. I could not put her through the surgery and chemo merely to give me only a month more to say goodbye. And so, I have lost my editor. My friend who waited patiently under the computer desk when the muse overtook me is gone. She who listened uncritically when I read these stories out loud to her now is in a better place that I can only hope someday to achieve. She will wait in that special place, and I will cry as I listen for the jingle of a collar that now is silent. Puppy dog, I dedicate this story to you. I miss you each and every day. Thank you for 13 wonderful years.


End file.
